Various techniques including Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication and various devices requiring a high data rate, e.g., smartphones and tablet Personal Computers (PCs), have emerged and gained popularity. As a consequence, the amount of data to be processed in a cellular network is rapidly increasing. To satisfy such rapidly increasing data processing requirements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), cognitive radio, etc. for efficiently using a larger number of frequency bands, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Coordinated Multipoint transmission and reception (CoMP), etc. for increasing the amount of data transmitted in limited frequency bands have been developed. Furthermore, communication environments are evolving toward an increased density of nodes accessible by User Equipments (UEs). A node refers to a fixed point having one or more antennas and capable of transmitting or receiving radio signals to or from UEs. A communication system with densely populated nodes can provide high-performance communication services to UEs through cooperation between nodes.
This multi-node cooperative communication scheme in which a plurality of nodes communicates with a UE using the same time-frequency resources offers a higher throughput than a conventional communication scheme in which each node operates as an independent base station (BS) and communicates with a UE without cooperation with other nodes.
A multi-node system performs cooperative communication by using a plurality of nodes, each of which is operating as a BS, an Access Point (AP), an antenna, an antenna group, a Radio Remote Header (RRH) or a Radio Remote Unit (RRU). Compared to a conventional centralized antenna system in which antennas are concentrated at a BS, the plurality of nodes are normally spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance or more in the multi-node system. The plurality of nodes may be managed by one or more BSs or one or more BS Controllers (BSCs) that control operation of each node or schedule data to be transmitted or received through each node. Each node is connected to a BS or BSC that controls the node through a cable or a dedicated line.
The above-described multi-node system may be regarded as a MIMO system in the sense that distributed nodes can communicate with a single UE or multiple UEs by transmitting or receiving different streams at the same time. However, since signals are transmitted using nodes distributed to various locations, each antenna covers a reduced transmission area in the multi-node system, relative to antennas in the conventional centralized antenna system. As a result, each antenna may need a reduced Tx power in transmitting a signal in the multi-node system, compared to a conventional system that implements MIMO with a centralized antenna system. In addition, as the transmission distance between an antenna and a UE is reduced, path loss is decreased and high-rate data transmission is possible. Accordingly, the transmission capacity and power efficiency of a cellular system may be increased and communication may be satisfactorily performed with uniform quality irrespective of the locations of UEs within a cell. Furthermore, the multi-node system boasts reduced signal loss during transmission because BS(s) or BSC(s) connected to a plurality of nodes cooperate in data transmission and reception. Also, if nodes located apart from each other by a predetermined distance or more perform cooperative communication with a UE, correlation and interference between antennas are decreased. Consequently, the multi-node cooperative communication scheme achieves a high Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR).
Owing to these advantages of the multi-node system, the multi-node system has emerged as a promising basis for cellular communication by substituting for the conventional centralized antenna system or operating in conjunction with the conventional centralized antenna system in order to reduce BS deployment cost and backhaul maintenance cost, extend service coverage, and increase channel capacity and SINR.